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Describing himself as a neo-classical composer, Ólafur Arnalds's elegant, brooding arrangements provide the soundtrack to the ITV television series Broadchurch (2013-2017), establishing him as one of Europe's most innovative composers. Born in the suburban town of Mosfellsbær, Iceland on November 3, 1986, he grew up playing drums in metal and hardcore bands but began composing ambient pieces in 2004. German hard rock group Heaven Shall Burn recruited him to create quiet, piano and string-based intros and outros for their album Antigone (2004) and from there, he developed a style that combined traditional orchestral swells with ambient, electronic loops and digital beats. His 2007 debut album Eulogy for Evolution led to tours with Sigur Rós and a commission to create music for a modern dance ballet called Dyad 1909. He signed with Universal Records and released his breakthrough album, For Now I Am Winter, in 2013. His delicate, haunting score for Broadchurch - which debuted in 2013 - perfectly captured the crime drama's rugged coastal setting and ethereal mood and won him a BAFTA TV Craft Award in the category of Best Original Music. The music for the series also won him a 2014 Televisual Bulldog Award for Best Music. He went on to work with pianist Alice Sara Ott on a project which re-worked Chopin's classical masterpieces and he also made techno music with Janus Rasmussen under the name of Kiasmos. In 2016, he released his fourth studio album Island Songs which featured Of Monsters and Men vocalist Nanna Brydis and sought to capture the eccentric communities of Iceland and its sparse, volcanic landscape. He followed this with Eulogy for Evolution (2017) and re:member (2018). Ólafur Arnalds's fifth album, Some Kind of Peace (2020) included two Grammy-nominated tracks: “Loom” featuring Bonobo (Best Dance / Electronic Recording) and “The Bottom Line” (Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals). In 2023, he launched his OPIA Community project, which included a traveling festival, a record label, and a community hub for other creative artists.
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